Healing Each Other
by 100EMERALD
Summary: She was a patient going into recovery for anorexia. He was going into recovery because of a rare digestive disorder. They both need someone to lean on to help get well again. Can they help each other?
1. Ch 1: Anorexia

**A/N **This is going to be a multi chapter story. I don't have it all written, but I wanted to get the first chapter up to give a little preview. I know it's short, but the next chapters will be longer. Please review, and don't be afraid to point out any mistakes. I'm open to constructive criticism.

Disclaimer: As much as I would like to, I don't own Bleach or it's characters.

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><p>Momo sat in the lobby of the doctor's office as her mom continued to chat with the doctor. She made sure to look as annoyed as possible to anyone walking passed. She made sure she would look especially annoyed when her mother came out so they could leave. Her mother had forced her to come to the doctor today because she believed Momo had a "problem".<p>

A door opened and Momo's mom and the doctor walked out. They're voices were quiet, but Momo could just hear what the doctor was saying. "You two have an hour to go home and get everything packed. After that, Momo will need to be taken to Blue Meadows Hospital and Treatment Center," said the doctor.

Momo's mother, Ami believed that Momo had developed anorexia. After two months of arguing with her about getting help, Ami had decided to schedule a doctor's appointment to see what he would say. The doctor had agreed with her, and Momo was now an official patient at Blue Meadows.

"I'm terrible sorry for your family, Mrs. Hinamori. These things can be very stressful for everyone involved. I really do hope she gets better," the doctor said kindly. Momo looked up at the two as they made their way over to her.

"How can I get better if I'm not even sick?" Momo spat to the doctor. She frowned.

"Momo!" Ami said anxiously, "I'm very sorry for her behavior. She can be a bit stubborn sometimes." Her mother smiled apologetically at the doctor.

"No worries, Mrs. Hinamori. Admitting to these kinds of things can be very difficult, and I know she's upset. But you don't have anything to worry about, Blue Meadows is the best place I know," the doctor reassured. He shook hands with Ami. "Get well, Momo," he said, and disappeared behind the lobby doors.

"That was no way to talk to a doctor. They want to help you," Ami said frustratingly. Momo merely rolled her eyes.

"The doctors don't know me. They don't care."

The two made their way out of the doctor's office and over to Ami's car. When Momo got in, she made sure to shut the door harder than normal to express her disapproval. On the way home she avoided eye contact with her mom, and didn't say a word. The only time she spoke was when Ami spoke first.

"Momo, this is for your own good. I love you and want you to get better-"

"I'm not sick," Momo retorted.

"Yes, you are! Eating disorders are a huge problem these days with girls and boys your age."

"I don't have an eating disorder!" Momo wailed.

Ami didn't say anything, and the two were silent for the next few minutes. After a while she decided to speak up. "You're father needs to know what's going on, Momo."

Momo made fists with her hands. "I don't want to speak to him. I already told you, and him that I never wanted to talk to him ever again."

Momo's father, Satoshi, had cheated on Ami two years ago. Momo had found messages in his phone one day while she was baking cookies. When it vibrated nobody was there to check it, so she decided to look herself. The number didn't have a contact name.

**'r**** u gonna b at the motel 2nite baby? 33' **the message said. After looking through her father's texts, Momo couldn't find anything else from this strange number.

After going on a business trip to Colorado, Satoshi had accidentally left his cell phone at home. He used a pay phone to call Ami and ask if she had seen it. While he was on the phone with her, he had also told her that the airports were closed because of a snowstorm. He was planning to stay with a "friend" until he could find a way to get home.

Momo had done a little research on the odd number until she found out whom it belonged to. She looked up the name on the Internet and found some twenty-five year old that lived in Colorado. Had Satoshi been sleeping with someone while he was away?

About a month later Momo found an email sent to her father that read, **'****I'm gonna be in San Francisco this weekend! Let's hook up, baby. I'm getting turned on just thinking about you. 333' **The email had been sent by the same person who sent the text.

Finding the email and text crushed Momo. She had never before felt so betrayed by anyone in her life. She couldn't believe that her father had the nerve to be so heartless and cheat on her mom like that. Ami loved him so much, and was willing to do anything for him to make him happy.

When the weekend came around Satoshi disappeared without saying anything. He later called Ami and told her that he was leaving her because he needed more "adventure." He also told her that he needed someone who could give him more "excitement."

Ami was absolutely devastated when she heard the news. She became depressed, and Momo hated herself for a long time for not saying anything. She should have come to her mother, or questioned her father the moment she found that first text. Instead she had kept everything to herself.

Momo ended up telling Ami how she knew about the first text message. She cried and apologized over and over for not saying anything to her sooner. Ami didn't blame Momo, at all. She told her that something like this shouldn't be her responsibility, and that it was a problem between herself and Satoshi.

Ami and Momo moved into a small apartment a few months after her father left. The bills on the old house had become too much for Ami to pay, and they didn't need as much space anymore since it was just the two of them. Momo wanted to get a job to help her mother out to try and make up to her, but Ami refused. She said she could handle things just fine, and if Momo got a job she was to keep all the money for herself.

"Momo, I know Satoshi has done bad things, but he's still your father. He needs to know what's going on." Ami snapped Momo out of her thoughts.

"He obviously doesn't care about either of us judging by the way he left us for that slut!" Momo cried.

"Momo, don't say that!" Ami reprimanded.

Nobody said anything the rest of the way home. Momo ran to her room as soon as they arrived back at the house, and slammed the door. She was furious, and confused, and sad. Her mother wasn't going to get away with any of this.

As soon as she was in her room, Momo collapsed onto her bed, and just lay there. She took deep breaths, and closed her eyes. Her heart pounded in her chest, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She sat up after a few minutes.

Momo then got up and walked over to the mirror across from her bed. She looked at the reflection in it, and saw some ugly, bloated, disgusting monster. Tears started to pour from her eyes as she sank to the floor. She couldn't do anything right, or please anyone. She wasn't good enough for anyone, was she?

Surrounding the mirror were photos of her and her friends. In all of the pictures everyone was smiling. They all looked happy. Momo looked at herself in the pictures and could barely recognize the girl in them. She looked so joyful, and all of the photos of her seemed foreign.

"Momo," said Ami from the other side of the door, "hurry up and pack. We only get one hour."

"You can't make me go!" Momo shouted through a stuffed nose.

"I can, and I will. Now, get packed!" shouted Ami. The footsteps grew quiet as they made their way into another room.

Momo continued to cry for another fifteen minutes before she got up to pack her things. She wasn't ever going to forgive her mother for this, never. She couldn't ever trust her again. She was just like her father.


	2. Ch 2: How it all Began

**A/N **This chapter is a collection of scenes leading up to what would have been the beginning of chapter one. Each date should be in bold. I'm going to let you know that Toshiro shows up in the next chapter, too.

And please please feel free to point out any grammar mistakes I might have. I don't like messy work, and I don't want mine to be.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of it's characters. But I wish I did...

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><p><strong>1½ years ago: November 2010<strong>

Fifteen-year-old Momo stepped onto a scale. At 5'0" she was 95lbs. To her, that seemed like a lot for someone of her height.

"Ninety-five pounds? I think I need to lose a little weight," she said to herself.

She began to research some health foods online later that night. If she wanted to loose weight the first thing she could do would be to eat healthier. She also wanted to start exercising more. No one could blame her for wanting to be healthy, right?

Momo wasn't planning on loosing much weight. She decided that five pounds maximum was a good amount. If she could maintain a ninety pound weight, that would be good enough. She decided she would tell Rukia her plans the next day at school.

"You know, I'm thinking about going on a diet," Momo told Rukia casually. They were sitting in English class the next day waiting for the bell to ring.

"Momo, you're thin enough already! You don't need to lose any weight. How much are you talking?" Rukia asked with full attention.

"Not much, just a few pounds. I decided that it was going to be five pounds maximum," Momo replied.

Rukia let out a sigh. "Please don't let it get to your head," she said seriously, "You're beautiful as you are."

"Thanks, Rukia. You're gorgeous, too!" Momo replied dramatically.

"Shut up," Rukia replied teasingly.

Momo went home after school and wrote down a list of some foods she wanted to get from the grocery store that night. A lot of the foods were already at her house, but she picked a few things out and decided to give the list to her mom later that night.

**January 2011**

"Ninety-three pounds. You've got to be joking!" Momo read the numbers on her scale out loud. "It's been two months since I started dieting, and I've hardly lost anything!"

Momo walked over to her bedroom mirror. She turned sideways and lifted up her shirt so she could see her stomach. It was flat like always, and she knew this. Somewhere inside her head though, she couldn't help but want to shed just one or two more pounds.

For Momo's "diet" she tried substituting her normal breakfast (cheese and bacon sandwich) for a bowl of Special K cereal. Her other two meals for the day didn't change, and sometimes she would still eat a snack in the afternoon when she got home from school. Whenever she wanted something sweet she allowed herself to eat an apple or other fruit.

Any drink she had was either water or something organic. Soda, or any sugary drink was completely out of the question. She enjoyed the organic juice a local market on her street provided. There was an organic farm outside the city of San Francisco that shipped different things to the market on different days of the week.

Momo had also gotten into the habit of running every day when she came home from school. Running gave her a time to burn off some calories she had accumulated throughout the day, but also to spend time alone to collect her thoughts. She'd bring music with her and hum along to the tunes.

For a while, Ami was even glad to see her daughter eating healthier and exercising. It gave her some motivation to get in on the act, as well. Eating better and working out made her feel great both physically and mentally. The problem was that she had no idea Momo was doing mainly so she could loose weight.

One night Momo got a call from Rukia. "Hey, girl! How's your special diet going?" she asked.

"I've barely lost anything, but I'm in pretty good shape right now. Maybe the muscle is what's keeping the weight on," Momo replied nonchalantly.

"Maybe your body is trying to tell you something," Rukia said.

"Maybe it's telling me I'm ninety-three pounds of pure muscle! *" Momo said with a deep, rough voice.

"Grrrrr!" Rukia shouted back. Momo let out a laugh.

"Momo, quiet down! I'm trying to work!" Ami shouted from the other room. Momo poked her head around the corner and gave a weak smile and a thumbs up.

"Tell your mom I said hey," Rukia said over the phone.

"Will do!" Momo promised.

**April 2011**

"Hey, Mom?" Momo started, "Is it alright if I become a vegetarian?"

"When did this idea come up? You're healthy enough as it is," Ami answered casually.

"I know, but I just want to give it a shot. If things don't work out I'll stop. I promise." Momo looked at her mom hopefully.

Ami thought over her daughter's request for a minute and answered, "Sure, it might be nice. I think I might even join you."

"Great! Thanks, Mom!" Momo hugged Ami and ran off to her room.

Momo decided to call Rukia later that evening and tell her the big news. She'd probably laugh, but Momo thought to call her anyways.

"Hey, Rukia," she said, "guess who's becoming a vegetarian?"

Rukia sighed into the phone. "Momo, please don't tell me you're doing this because you want to lose more weight. I hope you remember me telling how beautiful you are right now." She sounded almost annoyed.

"No, no, it's just something I want to try out. My mom even decided to try it with me!" Momo replied excitedly.

"Hmm, if Ami is doing it and my best friend is doing it then count me in," Rukia replied.

Momo was surprised and thrilled at the same time. "Oh my gosh, really? This is going to be so fun. But what about Byakuya? What's he going to think?" Momo asked.

Rukia was silent for a moment. "You know Brother, too busy to ever notice anything I do. I doubt this will be any different."

**December 2011**

The next eight months passed by quickly. Momo, Rukia, and Ami all stuck to their vegetarian diets like they said they would. Rukia was even surprised that they all did it for as long as they did, but happy. Byakuya didn't find out about it until they were all two months into the diet, but he didn't really care.

Momo had also begun to eat less and less over those months. For breakfast she would eat exactly a half a cup of dry Special K cereal, an apple for lunch, but still a regular dinner. She and her mother liked to cook special vegetarian meals with each other most nights, so Momo ate whatever they made.

It eventually got to the point where Momo had to know exactly what was being used in each recipe. When her and her mom would pick out what to cook that night Momo would look at each ingredient label to see how many calories was in each serving. She did this for every meal they cooked.

Going out to eat became increasingly difficult or stressful, too. When making plans with her friends she had to know exactly where they were going before they left. When she got the name of the restaurant she would Google it and find the lowest calorie item from the menu. She also checked fat, sugar, and sodium.

Kira caught her in the act once. Him and Rukia had come over to Momo's apartment early and Momo was right in the middle of doing her search. While Rukia was going to the bathroom Kira went to see where Momo was. He found her on her computer carefully checking every item on the restaurant menu.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Momo jumped up a little and let out a squeak. "I'm just looking something up. It's nothing, ok?" Momo replied quickly.

"That's not-"

"Izuru, please."

"Alright…"

By the time Momo had reached a weight of about eighty-nine pounds people began to notice. Sometimes Rukia would comment about how she looked thin, and warn her not to let things get to her head. Momo would always respond by telling her that she was done losing weight, she promised. It was always the same answer.

One thing that also slowly began to creep up on Momo was a mild case of OCD**. Normally she was a very neat and organized person, but she had begun to take things to a more extreme level. She weighed herself exactly three times before going to bed, washed her hands more throughout the day, and disinfected the kitchen after she and Ami cooked.

There were side effects of a very serious problem that were beginning to show in her. Although they were mild, Momo didn't realize that the reason she was developing these problems was because she was beginning to develop anorexia.

"Eighty-six pounds… Just a few more?"

**January 2012**

"Momo, how come you didn't bring your lunch today?" Kira asked one day at school.

"Oh, I forgot it at home, I guess," Momo replied as casually as she could.

"You said that yesterday," Rukia butted in. "What in the world is going on with you?"

"Nothing is going on, you guys. I just forgot my stuff at home. Please don't start something now," Momo begged.

Rukia and Kira stared at Momo for a moment with concerned expressions. After a minute of silence Kira let out a sigh and got up to go to class. As he left, Rukia turned to Momo.

"How much do you weigh?" she asked.

"What?" Momo answered back, caught off guard.

"How much do you weigh?" Rukia repeated, looking straight into Momo's eyes as she did so.

"E-eighty-three pounds…" stammered Momo. Rukia looked away.

"You said you were done…" she said quietly, and got up to go to class. Momo sat alone at the lunch table trying to figure out on earth what just happened.

**February 2012**

Momo dropped another six pounds within the next month. By February she weighed a mere seventy-seven pounds. Ami had even noticed how thin her daughter looked and questioned her sometimes. At this point, though, they were mostly arguments or accusations.

"Don't think I haven't noticed how thin you've gotten! I know you're trying to lose weight!" Ami yelled at Momo.

"Mom, I haven't lost that much! Please don't make such a big deal out of this!" Momo whined back.

"Why do you think I'm making a big deal? You look like a stick!"

"I look normal." Momo dropped her tone of voice lower. She was beginning to become angry.

"What is 'normal' to you, Momo? Is it so thin that you can see your ribs? Huh?" Ami spat.

Tears were beginning to cloud Momo's eyes. She didn't bother to hide them. Let her mother see just how upset she was.

"No," she choked.

**March 2012**

One night in March Momo found herself looking up signs of anorexia on the Internet. She had no idea what compelled her to do so; maybe it was just out of curiosity. As she read through a list she did a mental checklist in her head.

"Exercises excessively to burn calories." Check.

"Eats abnormally small portions of food." Check.

"Cuts food up into tiny pieced to make it appear eaten." Check.

"Has a thin appearance."… Check.

"Has dry skin."… Check.

Momo continued to look at the list on the site she found. Out of eleven it mentioned eight matched her. Even still, she couldn't bring herself to actually believe she had a problem. There was absolutely _no way _she was anorexic.

Sitting up on her bed she ran her fingers through her hair. A few strands fell from her scalp and onto the bed. Momo stared at them in confusion. Why in the world was her hair falling out? (That makes nine signs.)

**April 2012**

"Momo, I bought you this to eat." Rukia held a biscuit up to Momo's face. Momo tried to push her hand away.

"Uh, no thanks. I'm not hungry," Momo said shyly.

"Dammit, Momo!" Rukia shouted angrily as she threw the biscuit into the trashcan. The whole lunchroom became quiet, and Kira tried to calm her down.

"You do this every single day, Momo! It needs to stop!" Rukia continued.

Everyone in the lunchroom was staring at them now. Momo had no idea how to respond to Rukia's surprise attack, so she just stared wide-eyed back at her. Rukia finally got her book bag and stormed out of the cafeteria.

"R-Rukia, wait!" Momo started to get up so she could go after her friend.

Kira followed her out of the cafeteria in a futile attempt to get her to calm down and let Rukia do the same. Momo wouldn't listen, and began to run. After a few steps she noticed her vision become blurry, and felt dizzy. Not too long after that she toppled over, and felt Kira grab her so she wouldn't smack her head on the concrete.

"Momo, Momo!" Kira said frantically. She was beginning to black out.

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><p>"That's it, tomorrow I'm scheduling an appointment for you to go to the doctor. Something is wrong with you, and you need help," Ami said seriously.<p>

"Nothing is wrong with me, Mom!" Momo cried back.

"Oh, really? Then explain to me why you collapsed today in the halls! Plus, it's seventy degrees outside and you have on jeans and a long-sleeved shirt." Ami crossed her arms over her chest.

"I didn't collapse. I passed out because we ran two miles in gym today and I was tired." Momo made an attempt to lie.

"Don't lie to me, Momo. You run every single day. I know you can handle a simple two miles. Plus, Rukia called today after you went home, and she's worried sick. She thinks it's her fault."

Momo suddenly felt sick to her stomach as a huge wave of guilt consumed her. "Rukia…"

"Izuru also called and wants to know how you're doing. He told me everything. That's why I know you're lying." Ami turned to face Momo and look her in the eyes. Momo couldn't look back at her.

"Explain your clothes."

"Freedom of speech," Momo said after thinking of an answer for a while. "It's in the first Amendment." She left it at that and stormed to her room.

The scale in her bathroom read seventy-four pounds. Momo couldn't believe she had a serious problem, even if the numbers on the scale were dangerously low. Looking in the mirror she saw someone bloated and large.

**The next day**

"Momo, you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I called them and said I wanted you in as soon as possible. After that I think we need to check you into the hospital," Ami told Momo the morning after the big incident.

"What? Are you joking?" Momo yelled, bewildered.

Tears formed in Ami's eyes. "This is for your own good. You have a serious problem and I want you to get better. Rukia, Izuru, and your other friends would want this for you, as well!"

"Didn't you ever think to ask me what I wanted before doing any of this?" Momo spat.

"You're a _minor_! I don't _have_ to ask you!" Ami cried.

Tears began to pour from Momo's eyes, and her face turned red. "I hate you!" she screamed, and ran to her room.

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><p><strong>AN **Emotional, huh? What'd you think? I feel bad for Momo. I know what it's like to be Rukia because last year I had a close friend who started to develop symptoms of anorexia, and it scared me half to death. Luckily she got some help before things got too bad.

* That's an inside joke between a friend and I, but I couldn't resist working it into my story.

** If you didn't know, there are a lot of mental side effects that can come with eating disorders. OCD happens to be one of them.

Let's try and get this up to 10 reviews. It's not a lot, but I need to start somewhere.


	3. Ch 3: Growing Up Sick

**A/N **OMG, I am so sorry for not updating! With midterms coming up I was studying, and I wasn't able to sit down and type up chapter 3! And I'm really sorry if I made you think I wasn't updating because of reviews. I was just waiting until all my tests were done and over with. I think now I'll set a date for when I'll update. How does every Sunday sound?

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or any of the characters. I just own the ones I made up myself.

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><p><strong>April 2012<strong>

Toshiro gagged into the toilet as his small meal considered "breakfast" came back up. The only thing he'd eaten was a small bowl of plain oatmeal but he couldn't even keep that down. Things had gotten pretty bad lately.

He leaned against the wall as he tried to catch his breath. This was the second time he had thrown up this morning since he woke up. Apparently he hadn't gotten up everything he'd consumed from the night before, and now he couldn't even digest a bowl of mush.

"Today's going to be pretty bad, isn't it?" a boy a few years older than Toshiro asked. He was around 5'11" with dark brown hair and teal eyes.

"Same as everyday, Masaki. I can't keep anything from coming back up," Toshiro replied hoarsely.

"Did you take your pills this morning?" Masaki asked.

"Yea, but they hardly help. Nothing stays down," Toshiro replied a little flatly.

Masaki- Toshiro's older brother- leaned against the doorframe. "Do you want to talk to Mom and Dad?" he asked after a moment's pause.

Toshiro debated his answer. "Mom and Dad can't do anything about it," he replied.

"They can send you to a doctor, which is probably what you need at this point."

Toshiro sighed and closed his eyes. "Yeah, I think you're right."

Toshiro wasn't bulimic by any means. He didn't have an eating disorder, or one that he could control at the least. His body simply rejected whatever nutrients he put into it. He ended up throwing up most of the time.

His body did whatever it could to try and get things out of his system. On some days he had bad fevers, and would break out into a cold sweat. This dehydrated him quickly. On other days his metabolism worked on overdrive, quickly burning whatever passed through. There were also the purge days, as Toshiro referred to them.

This problem started out when he was around ten years old. The doctors diagnosed him several different times with several different problems. They wondered at first if he was lactose intolerant because of his stomach pains. Later they wondered if he was allergic to gluten, and put him on a gluten free diet. Nothing changed.

Every time Toshiro ate, the pain in his chest was unbearable. Sometimes it was so unbearable that he would purposely throw up just to get rid of the pain. Swallowing solids or liquids was very difficult, and sometimes it was like food was stuck in his breastbone. The doctors diagnosed him with "nutcracker esophagus".

When he was in 9th grade, Toshiro was put on pills to help control his speedy metabolism. He was told he couldn't participate in sports anymore because doctors didn't want extra calories to be burned. He even quit eating lunch at school because he didn't want to throw up. Kids would only make fun of him.

The bulimia jokes were just _hilarious. _Kids teased him every day, asking him if he'd thrown up at all yet. Sometimes kids would say "Hurry up and eat that so you can go purge." Toshiro didn't have many friends by the time he entered high school because many people were too afraid to go near the "weird kid with the eating disorder".

The jokes and the teasing became so bad during his freshman year that his parents wanted him to be home schooled. Each day when Toshiro came home, his mask of indifference would shatter and he would fall apart. The only thing he wanted to do was lock himself in his room and cry.

The closest friends he was his eighteen year old brother Masaki, his twelve year old twin sisters Rei and Ren, and his parents. Granted, he did have a few friends at school that stuck by his side no matter what. Toshiro wouldn't trade them in for all the money in the world. Orihime Inoue was a friend who was always there to take care of him if things got too bad, and it was almost like she was a doctor.

His other close friend, Ichigo Kurosaki, tried to help defend him if people teased him. Ichigo's main goal was to protect those he cared about, such as friends or family. He wasn't pushy, though. He didn't get too involved unless it looked like Toshiro couldn't handle himself at the moment.

By the time sophomore year rolled around, Toshiro's parents finally decided to take him out of public school. It had become blatantly obvious how much the teasing hurt, and the school wouldn't do anything about it. Even though there was a strict "no bullying" policy, the school wouldn't get involved unless the kids were hurting Toshiro physically.

Orihime and Ichigo told Toshiro they would try and visit him every weekend. Orihime would bring him special drinks and home made remedies that were supposed to help with upset stomachs. Some of them Toshiro tried and liked, but there were some that looked too weird to even taste.

"Do you want some help?" Masaki asked, holding out his hand to Toshiro. Toshiro nodded, and Masaki grabbed him and pulled him up.

Before leaving the bathroom, Toshiro had a chance to look at his reflection in the mirror. It wasn't the boy he saw years ago, it was a boy who looked thin and sick. He also knew that there wasn't a thing he'd been able to do about it. Unlike most people with an eating disorder, he knew how dangerously underweight he was. He wished he wasn't, but he was.

"I think," Masaki started, "they'll want to send you to a hospital. We can't do anything else to help."

Toshiro sighed. If this were for the best, he'd go. He wanted to find out if there was a way to cure everything he'd been diagnosed with, or lessen the effects at the very least. He wanted to be able to play sports again, and go back to a school where he wouldn't be made fun of. He even wanted to be able to rejoin a kendo club.

Kendo was one of the few sports that Toshiro was exceptionally good at. He was also good at soccer and martial arts, but kendo was the one thing he enjoyed the most. He had even become captain of his school's kendo club. Hearing people call him "Captain Hitsugaya" when he practiced made him feel special, and proud of what he could do.

"Toshiro, I think going to a doctor would be the best idea, don't you?" Naomi (his mother) asked.

"Son, I have to agree with your mother on this one. I'm glad you and your brother brought this up, because I don't feel like there is anything else we can do," agreed Kenji, his father.

Not long after his talk with Masaki, Toshiro had gone to find his parents to tell them what he wanted. They had thought it over, and agreed that the request was the most practical solution. They planned to send him into a hospital.

"What's going on, guys?" Rei asked as she and her sister entered the living room. Both of the girls had concerned expressions on their face. Rei and Ren had dark brown hair, and cocoa brown eyes.

"We need to tell the girls sometime, Kenji," Naomi whispered, looking at her husband. Kenji nodded and closed his eyes.

"The four of us have agreed that Toshiro needs to get some help. He needs to go to the hospital for a little while," Naomi said sadly.

"He's leaving? H-how long will he be gone?" Ren asked shakily.

Kenji shrugged. "That's up to the doctors. Don't you want your brother to get better?"

"Yeah," answered Ren, "but I don't want him to leave." She sniffled.

To be honest, Toshiro didn't want to leave, either. He took care of his sisters because nobody else was around much, and he didn't want to leave them alone. Their family lived in a town just outside of San Francisco that wasn't the safest area.

Toshiro's family didn't exactly have a lot of money. The six of them lived in a small, two-bedroom house in a neighborhood about an hour west of San Francisco. Toshiro shared a room with Rei and Ren, and Masaki slept on the couch. Naomi and Kenji took the other bedroom.

Everybody had to have a job in order to keep up with all the bills. Toshiro's medical bills weren't exactly cheep, so everybody worked hard in order to pay for them. Masaki worked at a diner after school, Naomi worked at the bookstore, and Kenji worked at the local supermarket. Even Rei and Ren worked, doing jobs for neighbors on weekends.

Toshiro used to work at the diner with his brother. He worked until the doctors told him he had to quit, the same time he was told he wasn't allowed to play sports anymore. He felt terrible for not being able to help his family, especially when they were working so they could pay for his medical bills.

Naomi and Kenji didn't have enough money to send their kids to college. Rei and Ren were still young and didn't have to think about it, but Masaki and Toshiro would have to get scholarships in order to go. Masaki's grades weren't good enough for him to get one, but Toshiro worked as hard as he could just to keep his grades up.

"Hey, I'll be around," Masaki said comfortingly. He tried to put on a smile for Rei and Ren.

"Not for much longer!" shouted Ren, and she ran out of the room with tears streaming down her face.

"Ren, wait!" Rei cried as she chased after her sister.

Masaki was planning on moving out of the house over the summer. He and a few friends were saving up money so they could rent an apartment together. They wanted to be closer to San Francisco so they could find better jobs. They also had a band together, and they could get better gigs if they were closer to the big city.

"I'll call a doctor later today and get a referral," Naomi sighed, and left the room as well.

Toshiro sat alone in the living room after everybody else left. Things were spiraling out of control, and it was all his fault. His family worked hard, and they didn't deserve to live this way. All Toshiro wanted was to have been born normal, like everybody else.

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><p><strong>AN **Woot! Chapter three! I would just like to say that I don't really know that much about digestive problems, while I do know enough to write a paper on eating disorders. If you know a name for what I was describing, or a better way to word my information I'll be happy to hear it.

Thank you to my reviewers so far! **Squigglytext, icyangel27, starlight3395, TheSecondQuincy, Reader-Favs, kitkathappiness**, and **kaibasgirlx**


	4. Ch 4: Blue Meadows

**A/N **I'm sorry for not updating on Sunday like I said! Time just slipped away from me! There will be one this Sunday, I promise!

Also, please review! I need to know what you guys think, so I can improve my writing. I hardly got any for this past chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters.

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><p>Clothes. "Check."<p>

Bathroom supplies. "Check."

Phone. "Check."

Phone charger. "Check."

Sketchpad. "Check."

Pencils. "Check."

Momo did a mental checklist after she had gotten all of her things packed. At this point, she completely resented her mother for forcing her to do this. She hadn't even been asked if she even wanted to go! Of course the answer would have been no, but still…

"I should text Rukia and tell her what's up," Momo said to herself as she reached for her phone and found Rukia's name in her contacts.

'Rukia, u will nvr believe wht my mom is making me do,' she texted.

A beep came from the phone a minute later. _'Treatment center?'_ Rukia replied.

'Howd u no about tht?' Momo replied in surprise.

_'Ur mom called earlier. Look, i no u don't want 2 hear this, but i think its for the best.'_

'wht? ur on her side! i thought we were friends!' Momo texted angrily.

_'momo we r! & we always will b if i hav a say, but i no ur sick & i want u 2 get btr.'_

'i cant f-ing believe this. i dont need 2g2 some stupid center. im fine.'

_'im rly srry momo… '_

'tlk 2 u l8r.'

Momo threw the phone in her bag angrily, and zipped the bag up. She was pissed that she even had to do this in the first place, and now she was pissed that even Rukia was on Ami's side. She decided to text Kira to see what he'd say. He didn't answer.

Momo took a look at herself in the mirror. She still saw something… not human. It looked so bloated and fat and disgusting that she couldn't even bear to look for long. In reality, she hardly had an ounce of fat on her. Her eyes looked hollow, and her hands looked boney and thin. Little tuffs of hair grew on her arms and legs.

"Ugh," Momo said to her reflection before grabbing her things and heading out the door.

"Please take off your shoes and step on that scale over there," a kind nurse said to Momo.

Momo weighed a mere 70lbs. Ami stood next to the nurse as Momo weighed herself, and turned her head away when the numbers came up. The nurse shook her head sadly as she wrote the weight on her clipboard. "I blame those stupid fashion magazines for most cases," she muttered.

Momo frowned. "I never read anything like that," she replied flatly as she stepped down from the scale.

"That's good to hear. We don't even allow those in this wing of the hospital," the nurse explained.

Momo and Ami were lead down a hallway and into a small, white room. A plain, white bed was along one of the walls and a dresser was next to it. Across from the entrance to the room was a window covering most of the wall, and a chair. Off to the right side of the room was a small bathroom.

"You may help her get unpacked, but when we start running tests and talking to her about her meals we need you to leave," the nurse told Ami.

Momo spoke up. "She can leave now. I don't need her help."

"Sweetie, I know you're upset, but can't I-" Ami started.

"Just. Go," Momo finished shortly.

The nurse glanced from Ami to Momo. "Are you sure you don't want her to stay and help? I'm sure she really wants to," she said.

"Please, just make her leave," Momo half-begged.

The nurse stood by the door for a moment without saying anything. When she spoke up again she said, "Miss Hinamori, if your daughter wants you to leave then I'm afraid we'll have to ask you to do so. We don't want her to get worked up, as it is dangerous for her health."

"I understand," Ami spoke quietly.

After Ami left, Momo put all of her clothes into the dresser. The nurse tried to help several times, but Momo refused. In fact, the nurse was almost forcing her help on Momo, which made Momo angry. She felt like she could do this herself.

"Ok, now I'm going to ask you to get into the bed. We have to put you on bed rest," the nurse said as Momo put her last article of clothing in the dresser.

"What do you mean by 'bed rest'?" Momo inquired. She made no move to get in bed like the nurse asked.

"We don't want you burning extra calories, so you need to be resting in bed," the nurse replied simply.

Momo frowned at the response. "What if I have to go to the bathroom, or want to brush my teeth?" she asked almost desperately.

"You have to ask a nurse before you may get out of bed so one can supervise you. Like I said before, we don't want you burning more calories than necessary," the nurse replied calmly.

Momo could not believe what she was hearing. Basically she was being told that she had to lie in bed all day and ask to get up, even if it was just to go to the bathroom! Someone was going to supervise her when she went, although there was no way in hell Momo was going to let that happen. What other "wonderful surprises" did this place have in store for her?

"I have to shower, too," Momo said flatly. She raised her eyebrow at the nurse.

"You will be taking baths for now. You could slip in the shower and get badly hurt!" said the nurse.

"I have been showering since I was seven, and I haven't slipped once. I think I can take a shower just as well here as I could anywhere else," Momo replied snottily.

The nurse shrugged. "I don't make the rules around here. I just enforce them. You're going to be taking baths, and you don't have a say about it." She seemed so uncooperative.

Momo pouted her lips and let out a small, but dramatic sigh. She was lead over to her bed, and asked again to lie down. She stared at the nurse for a minute before seeing she wasn't going to change her mind, and then climbed into the bed. It was about 12 in the afternoon, and Momo had no idea what she was supposed to do.

A dietitian was supposed to come by later to speak with her about a meal plan. Momo was sure she probably had little to no say in what she was going to eat, and that made her even more annoyed. There was no way they could force her to eat meat, because that was just pushing things too far.

The dietitian came by the room about an hour later. Momo already felt like she was going to go nuts, with nothing to do and not feeling the slightest bit tired. She wasn't used to lying around this much, because she was naturally a very active person. Momo needed something to do. Anything.

The dietitian was a rather tall woman with short, lilac hair. At first, Momo wondered if it was dyed to such an unusual color. The woman went by the name Isane Kotetsu. When she spoke her voice was pleasant, yet quiet and shy.

"Good afternoon, Momo. I'm Ms. Kotetsu, the head nurse and dietitian of the team in this wing."

Momo half-nodded in response. "What a pleasure," she muttered very quietly.

"I'd like to help plan out the meals you'll be eating while you're here. What are a few foods you don't like?" Isane asked nicely.

Being anorexic, Momo preferred to stay away from food in general. She didn't really try, but her subconscious told her she shouldn't eat. She couldn't tell Isane that, so instead she replied, "I'm a vegetarian."

"I'll trust that it was moral issues," Isane said kindly. Momo nodded shyly. "What are some things you eat?" Isane continued.

Momo shrugged. "I don't know, I ate fruits and veggies, I guess."

Isane wrote a few things down on a clipboard. After that, she asked Momo more questions about her usual diet. Momo wasn't really sure how to answer some of the questions because she'd hardly eaten anything over the past two months. Isane acted like she was eating like a normal person.

"I think that covers everything. The head doctor for our team will want to speak with you later, as well," Isane said to Momo. "I'm going to bring a snack by later."

After Isane left the room, Momo was once again left alone with nothing to do. She ran through thoughts in her head, and let out a board sigh. Someone came by later and fed her a snack. The snack was a few crackers with some peanut butter. Momo didn't want to eat the food, but she knew the doctors wouldn't leave unless she did.

When she was done eating, Momo was told she would be taken to the bath so she could clean up. The nurses wouldn't let her walk, so she was pushed in a wheelchair instead. They tried to help her into the chair, but Momo got upset and told them she could sit down by herself.

Right as they were leaving the room, another family passed by. A mother, father, two girls, and two boys were being taken to the room right next to Momo's. The sickly looking boy with white hair and teal eyes stood out the most to Momo. She wondered if this boy dyed his hair as well, and wondered just how many people around San Francisco did as well.

'He's still pretty cute,' Momo thought. She had a hard time looking away from the captivating boy.

"Alright, Mr. and Mrs. Hitsugaya, your son will be staying here in room 319. We're going to get him settled and take some blood…" The rest was faded out as the nurse wheeled Momo away to the bath.

Momo was helped out of her wheelchair and handed a towel. She was also given her small bottle of shampoo she had brought, and some soap. A small bucket was given to her so she could rinse her head.

"We're going to be standing outside the door until you're done, so we'll know if you try to drown yourself," Momo was told as the bathtub was filled.

The idea of being watched as she bathed did not go over well with Momo. "I'm not suicidal," she said sharply. The nurse didn't say anything.

The bathtub didn't have a lot of water, and it was almost cold. The nurses had the door cracked a little, and Momo knew they could see her. It made her very uncomfortable, so she quickly ran some soap over her body, and hurryingly washed her hair. She tried to bathe as quickly as she could.

She was wheeled back to her room after she finished bathing. When they got back, Momo was once again told to get in bed. They also hooked her up to a heart rate machine to check her heart rate. She was scheduled to have her first real meal around 5:00PM, but she had to rest until then.

The head doctor of the special "team" came with Isane when Momo's meal was delivered. She wanted to speak with Momo about how the next few weeks were going to go, and who else was planning to come speak with her. The head doctor's name was Reitsu Unohana, and she was shorter in stature with a long braid down her front.

Unohana had a quiet, kind voice when she spoke. Momo almost felt like this lady was _too _nice when she talked. She began to slowly dislike her from the beginning, although she knew Unohana was probably very nice.

"We have a psychologist who speaks to the patients of the pediatric unit. He's going to come in tomorrow to start talking to you. For the first week he'll come in every day for about half an hour," Unohana said quietly.

"What's his name?" Momo asked unenthusiastically.

"His name is Dr. Ukitake. I'm sure you'll like him. Most of the patients he speaks to do."

"Great. I'm thrilled," Momo muttered sarcastically. She was finding it hard to like anybody here when she didn't even want to be here in the first place.

Momo was pretty sure she was going to hate all the doctors at Blue Meadows. Unohana mildly creeped her out, Isane was too quiet, and the rest of the nurses were too pushy. Although her feelings probably came from her dislike of being at the hospital, she was pretty sure this Dr. Ukitake person wasn't going to be any better.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. Voices could be heard in the newly occupied room next to Momo's. The Hitsugaya family had been in the room with the white-haired boy all afternoon. Momo guessed he was the patient. For a moment, she wished she had let her mother stay so she could have somebody to talk to.

The Hitsugayas were asked to leave later that night when the visiting hours ended. The sound of shuffling feet was heard through the wall, and Momo saw the father as he walked by her own room. The two girls walked by next, and one of them looked through the crack in Momo's door. Momo looked away, feeling ashamed.

"That girl is alone," the girl said to her father.

"She probably doesn't like you looking through her door, Ren," the father replied. He ushered her along.

The white-haired boy's mother was the last to leave the room. "We'll try to visit you as soon as we can. I love you, Toshiro." So that was his name: Toshiro.

The mother closed Toshiro's door as she left. She caught Momo's gaze as she passed by her room, and gave her a weak smile before continuing down the hall. Aside from a few nurses and doctors passing by every now and then, Momo didn't see anybody for the rest of the evening.

'A few weeks, huh?" Momo thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep. 'A few weeks of hell.' The heart rate machine continued its steady beeping, and soon Momo fell asleep. Just a few more weeks to go.

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><p><strong>AN **I know, another short chapter. I think the next one should be longer, and guess what? Momo and Toshiro finally meet each other! Woot woot!


	5. Ch 5: Ukitake and Toshiro

**A/N **Woahh, so it's like really early in the morning right now. If there's lots of grammar mistakes it's because I am completely exausted and too lazy to even care about looking over it. This is probably my longest chapter yet!

**Disclaimer** Yea, I totally own Bleach. That's why I'm here writing cheesy fanfictions.

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><p>Toshiro awoke the next morning in the hospital after his first night there. The constant beep of a heart rate machine could be heard in the room next to his, 318. He remembered seeing a girl in a wheelchair being pushed down the hall as he was taken to his room. She looked thin and sick, like himself.<p>

Suddenly a knock came from the other side of the door. Two people walked in: the head dietitian and the head doctor of this hospital wing's team.

"Good morning, Toshiro. How are you feeling?" Unohana asked.

"Fine, I guess. I just woke up," Toshiro replied truthfully.

Unohana smiled. "That's good. Last night's meal didn't upset your stomach?"

Toshiro nodded. He was then given his breakfast, which wasn't a lot to eat. Isane had put him on a bland diet to start out with to see if it would help with his problem. He was eventually going to be given more food.

"Oh, before I forget" Unohana started "a psychologist is coming to talk to you later today. His name is Dr. Ukitake, and he is going to speak with you for around half an hour. He likes to talk to all patients of the pediatric wing."

Toshiro gave a small nod. He was silent a moment before he spoke up again. "What about that girl I saw coming in yesterday? Is he going to talk to her?"

"Yes," Unohana said plainly, "He's meeting her for the first time today as well. She checked in only a couple of hours before you."

Toshiro learned that the pediatric unit of the hospital frequently had eating disorder patients. He wondered if the girl in the room next to him was one of them. He wasn't particularly fond of people like that because he felt like they chose not to eat. He didn't, but he was stuck her like the rest of them.

Maybe that wasn't fair. Those patients didn't just stop eating one day. He knew that disorders like that developed over periods of time in most cases. People who had them were often times very self-conscious and hard on themselves.

"I can already tell the girl is probably going to be difficult. She's resisting any help from the doctors," Unohana admitted sadly. "Maybe Ukitake can break through to her. Most of our patients take a liking to him."

Hearing this made Toshiro feel a little sorry for the girl. He knew accepting help could be hard, and that she probably didn't want to be here in the hospital. He could sympathize with her on that; he didn't want to be here much either, but he had to be anyways.

Ukitake came in to Toshiro's room to speak with him around noon. Unlike the rest of the doctors, he was dressed in normal everyday clothes. His hair was pulled into a low ponytail that ran a little ways down his back.

"Hello, you must be Toshiro Hitsugaya. I'm Dr. Ukitake, and it's a pleasure to meet you," Ukitake said in a casual and friendly manner as he stepped through Toshiro's door.

Toshiro sat up in his bed and shook hands with Ukitake. The atmosphere felt lighter just with him in the room. "It's nice to meet you, too," Toshiro said politely.

Ukitake sat down on a chair next to Toshiro's bed. He pulled out a pen and clipboard and prepared to ask some questions. "I hear you're different from many of the patients down in this part of the hospital," he said.

"What do you mean?" Toshiro asked.

"You haven't had problems like anorexia or bulimia, right? From what I've been told, you chose to come here because of other reasons," said Ukitake casually.

Toshiro nodded meekly. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't eat, and my family thought it would be best for me to check in to a hospital for a while," he replied honestly.

"There was no forcing involved?" questioned Ukitake. Toshiro shook his head.

Ukitake continued to ask questions, and get to know Toshiro better. Toshiro understood why people liked him. He was very friendly, and didn't push for answers. Toshiro felt very comfortable around him, and ended up telling him things about his family and favorite hobbies, as well. Ukitake would smile and nod.

If this doctor couldn't help the patient next door (whom Toshiro learned was named Momo) then Toshiro didn't know who could. This man was probably the friendliest and most sociable person in this hospital. It seemed like nothing could get him worked up or angry.

"Toshiro, I hope you don't mind me asking, but is there something you're holding back? You don't seem to be comfortable talking about your school," Ukitake said in a more serious tone.

Toshiro was silent for a moment. He felt like the air around him had become a little more tense. "It's just… kids at my school, I guess," he muttered.

"What about them?" Ukitake questioned.

"They just give me a rough time, that's all. It's no big deal, though. I've got friends to help me out," Toshiro replied with a small smile.

"That's good, but are these people making fun of you at all?"

"It's just… the…" Toshiro didn't quite know what to say. "It's bulimia jokes, really. I get a lot of those."

"I see," Ukitake said quietly. He didn't say anything for a moment after that. It was clear that Toshiro didn't really want to say anything about it at the moment, so he decided to change the subject.

The rest of the time Ukitake spent in Toshiro's room seemed to pass by quickly. This disappointed Toshiro a little, because he'd be alone in his room after Ukitake left. He had no idea when his family would come to see him, and he had no way to contact them at the moment.

His family was most likely working. They were going to have to work twice as hard now that Toshiro was in the hospital. Paying bills was hard enough for them, let alone medical bills. The bill for his stay at Blue Meadows wasn't going to be cheap, and being here suddenly seemed selfish.

"You alright there, Toshiro?" Ukitake inquired.

Toshiro snapped out of his trance and looked up at the door. Ukitake had one hand on the doorknob, and had his gaze on Toshiro. "Yea, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about family,"

"I know it can get lonely here. Don't worry; I'm sure they'll be by soon. I'll see you later," Ukitake replied. He waved before walking out the door.

'Soon… How soon?' Toshiro thought.

Ukitake's next patient happened to be Momo. From what he was told, she was proving to be difficult. He knew he needed to be gentler with patients like this, as they usually kept their guard up. They weren't the ones who would just open up and talk.

After grabbing a bite to eat, Ukitake walked back to his office to grab a few papers. He took his copy of Momo's patient files and proceeded to her room.

Momo was resting in her bed when she heard a knock on her door. At first, she expected it to be more nosy, pushy doctors. She even considered pretending to be asleep so they wouldn't bother her. When the door opened, though, Ukitake stepped in.

"Hello, you're Momo Hinamori, correct? I'm Dr. Ukitake." He held out his hand to Momo. She shook it cautiously.

"I'm here to ask a few questions and get to know you better. I'm not going to interrogate you. I just want to talk to you a little bit about your situation," Ukitake continued as he sat down in a chair.

"There's really nothing to talk about," Momo replied as casually as she could. As pissed as she was to be in a stupid hospital in the first place, she was finding it increasingly hard to keep her guard up around Ukitake, unlike everyone else she had met so far.

"That might be what you say, but unfortunately I'm going to be in here for the next hour, so you and I need to talk about something." Ukitake seemed to sense the mental barrier Momo had put up around herself, not daring to admit to anyone that she had a serious problem.

Momo certainly wasn't going to talk to this stranger. How could she trust somebody she had met just moments ago? It's not like he would actually care about what she was going through, and how on earth could he possibly understand what it was like to be a teenage girl stuck in a hospital room because of a classic problem? Was he really expecting her to spill the beans?

"I know it can be awkward having to share personal things with somebody you've never talked to before. I'm not here to force anything out of you, I'm just here to try and make this experience easier for you," Ukitake reassured.

Momo didn't respond, and quite frankly, she didn't know how to. Apart from everybody else that took care of her, he seemed different. There was nothing in his words that detected he was just trying to gain her trust, only to shatter it and tell her it was her own fault for being in this mess in the first place. No, his reassurance seemed genuine enough, and maybe he'd be somebody she could trust and talk to as long as she was here.

"What if you and I got to know each other a little better, so it's not like talking to a complete stranger," suggested Ukitake. "Do you have things you like to do, like hobbies?"

Relaxing herself a bit, Momo opened her mouth to speak. "I… I like to draw, I guess." Her response came out a little weak and nervous, but Ukitake seemed pleased she spoke nonetheless.

"Ah, so you're an artist? Do you have any particular styles you like?" Ukitake asked with seemingly genuine interest.

"I love pastel drawings, but I've never been that good at those. I mostly just do colored pencil sketches," replied Momo less cautiously.

Ukitake was glad that he had gotten the girl to speak a little. When he first entered the room she was more on the defense, but seemed to be a little more relaxed now. She had been fidgeting with her hands, and her shoulders were tense, but now it seemed like she was feeling a little more comfortable. He knew that this was good, but that if he tried to dive into her disorder too early story she'd put her wall right back up again.

"Is that your sketch pad over there?" Ukitake asked, noticing the bound pad of paper resting on her dresser. Momo nodded slowly, following his gaze to where he was looking.

Momo was a little apprehensive about letting the doctor see her drawings. She never let anybody see her creations out of fear they might criticize them or make fun of them. In fact, only Rukia had ever seen one of the drawings, but that was because she had kept begging until Momo had let her take a peek. Momo had drawn Rukia and their friend Renji when they were all together at the park one day.

"Would you mind if I had a look?" Ukitake asked nicely, indicating he was actually giving her a choice.

"Umm, no… It's fine. " Momo answered before she realized what she'd said. Her mouth seemed to be acting independently from her brain.

Ukitake went to get the sketchpad before sitting back in his chair again. He carefully lifted up the cover so as not to rip something, noticing that the binding was coming undone. He stared at the first picture for a moment, and then slowly began to flip through pages. His eyes grew wider with each drawing he saw.

"These are very good," he said truthfully.

"Thanks," Momo replied quietly. "Oh, that's my mom." She pointed to the woman in the picture Ukitake was currently looking at.

"I see," he answered as he continued to marvel at the colors and textures within the drawing.

Momo's mother was sitting in a large living chair with her legs curled under her. She had a book in her hands, and the expression on her face portrayed she was relaxed and focused on the story. The lamp sitting next to the chair casted a warm glow, making her mom's silky, shoulder-length brown hair appear to have a little shine.

"This is a photo, isn't it?" Ukitake joked. Momo let out a small giggle. "You're a talented artist, Momo."

Scratching the back of her head, Momo replied, "Ah, they're actually not that good. I'm no Picasso."

"But you still have an amazing talent. Have you ever considered entering a piece in a contest?" asked Ukitake.

Momo shook her head. "Uh, no, I mean I've never really thought I should let other people see this stuff. The only person who's seen a drawing is my best friend, Rukia." She flipped the page once to reveal the drawing of Rukia and Renji at the park. Pointing to the petite, raven-haired girl she said, "That's her."

"Who's with her?" Ukitake asked, placing his finger on the boy with the spiky red ponytail.

"That's our friend, Renji. He and Rukia have known each other since they were probably three. They were friends before I met either of them," Momo explained.

For the next chunk of time Ukitake was in the room, Momo talked about her drawings and the people in them. There was one of several of her friends hanging out at the beach. Another was of Kira with ice cream on his head when some klutz had tripped and spilled it on him at the fair. That was one of her favorites because he had no idea she'd drawn him like that in the first place.

Ukitake let out a laugh, and flipped the page to see a picture of Ami with a man. Momo's smile melted away instantly, being replaced with a disapproving frown. "That's… my dad," she whispered. Ukitake seemed to pick up on her change in behavior, because he gently closed the notebook and handed it to her.

"These are all beautiful, Momo. It's about time for me to leave, but I'll be back in a couple of days. If you want, I can look for some information about a show you could enter your artwork in," said Ukitake.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt," Momo replied confidently.

"Then I'll get back to you on that. See you in a couple of days!" Ukitake smiled as he left the room.

Momo had opened up to him about something, at least. Her artwork seemed to be something she cherished, and it made him glad to know that she'd been willing to open up a little and let him see. Still, she didn't seem comfortable talking about anything personal, judging by her change in attitude when she saw the picture of her father. Something must have happened to make her have a hard time trusting adults.

An idea suddenly came to Ukitake and he stopped in his tracks. Maybe she'd have a much easier time talking if she was able to talk to someone her own age. None of her friends had paid her a visit, but that didn't mean she didn't have anybody to talk to. In fact, there was also one other lonely patient at Blue Meadows who seemed like he could use the same thing.

"Genius," Ukitake mumbled happily to himself. All he needed was permission from Unohana and his plan would take off.

After a few days, Ukitake came back to visit Momo. As he'd hoped, Unohana had given him permission to let Momo mingle with another patient, so his plan was all set. He'd also gotten some information about an art show in San Francisco that Momo could enter some of her art in if she wished, and he planned to tell her.

Momo seemed pretty pleased about seeing Ukitake again. She found him more personable, unlike many other doctors on the team, and this comforted her. She found the others too weird, or just too mean. Even saying this, she didn't plan on letting him think she was about to open up about everything and have story time with him.

When Ukitake entered her room, Momo was busy sketching the scenery outside her window. The doctors didn't like that she was sitting up and drawing, but she refused to let them take away her sketchpad and pencils. These were the only things that she had to entertain herself, apart from counting the small nubs in the popcorn ceiling.

"Hello, Momo," greeted Ukitake cheerily, "I've got some news for you."

Momo looked up from her drawing and brushed her bangs away from her face. "What is it?" she asked curiously.

"First off, there's an art gallery in downtown San Francisco that I know about that's having a show next month. I printed some information out so you could read it." Ukitake handed Momo some folded papers. "It's for artists your age to show their work."

"Thanks, I'll have to read these," Momo said back. She smiled in appreciation.

"I have a friend whose daughter entered her photography a few years back. She went off to college not long ago," Ukitake continued. Momo looked back down at the papers in her hands to study them.

"Also, I'm taking you a room over so you can meet a neighbor of yours. I think it will be helpful for you to meet someone your age," explained Ukitake.

"Neighbor?" Momo asked curiously.

"Yes, his name is Toshiro Hitsugaya. I think he's been pretty lonely these past few days, like you. His family hasn't been able to come see him."

Momo felt a pang of guilt hit her in the chest. On her first day here she'd rudely kicked her mother out. Toshiro had let his family stay, and now they weren't even able to come see him. They were probably all very busy. She'd have to apologize to her mom for the way she acted when she came to visit.

"When are we going?" Momo asked when the guilt subsided.

"We're waiting on a doctor to bring a wheelchair for you," Ukitake answered. Momo frowned.

"I can walk one door over," she told him matter-of-factly.

Ukitake shrugged. "That's not my decision to make. This was the only way you were going to be allowed to leave your room to go anywhere," he replied apologetically.

A couple of nurses entered Momo's room with the wheelchair after a short amount of time. One insisted on helping her into it, but she refused just like she always did, telling him she was perfectly capable of getting into the wheelchair on her own. She also made sure to bring her sketchpad with her, not trusting anybody who entered her room while she was gone to leave it alone.

Momo was a little nervous about meeting the boy in the room next to her. She wasn't a conversationalist, and she knew she wouldn't know what to say at all. When she was around new people she could become quite shy. Ukitake acted quite excited about having her meet this boy, and Momo really had no idea why.

The nurses pushed her out of her room and over to Toshiro's. Someone checked to make sure he was awake, and Momo was wheeled in when it was confirmed he was. Her heart started to pick up it's pace as the moments became more awkward.

Judging by Toshiro's confused facial expression, Momo confirmed that he most likely hadn't been given a heads up to Ukitake's plans. She gave him a nervous smile, trying to give an _I'm-just-as-confused-as-you _look, but ending up looking more pathetic than anything. Ukitake continued to grin like this was the most normal thing in the world as he glanced from Toshiro to Momo to the nurses.

"I can handle things from here. I promise I'll keep her sitting," Ukitake reassured the nurse, who was hesitant to let go of Momo's wheelchair.

"You've got half an hour," the nurse replied.

Everyone cleared out of the room, with the exception of Ukitake, Momo, and Toshiro. The two teens didn't seem to understand what was supposed to happen at this point, so they just stared at each other with confused expressions. Luckily, Ukitake stepped up to the plate to get things going.

"Momo, I'd like for you to meet Toshiro. Toshiro, this is Momo. She's your neighbor in room 319," Ukitake said happily.

"Uh, hi." Momo gave a small greeting as she held her hand up to wave. Toshiro smiled slightly in return, and held his own hand up to give her a half wave.

As Momo put her hand back in her lap, Toshiro noticed dark spots all over it. He wrinkled his eyebrows and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, is your hand alright?"

Momo hadn't even noticed her hands. They were dirty, and had smudges all over them because of her pencils. "Oh, no! I was just sketching something earlier and I use my fingers to smudge things. I didn't realize they were so dirty." She smiled.

It was then that Ukitake noticed the sketchpad resting in the girl's lap. "You brought your sketchpad with you," he pointed out.

Momo gripped her drawings tighter. "Well, I didn't feel comfortable leaving it in my room alone. I know, it's weird." She let out a small giggle, feeling really stupid afterwards.

Ukitake chuckled. "You should see her drawings. They're lifelike." Toshiro raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

When things got quiet, Ukitake was there to get things going again. Both Toshiro and Momo were thankful he could help out with that, and the three of them were all talking together within a short time. Ukitake slowly excluded himself from the conversation when he felt things were going smoothly enough and just jotted notes on his clipboard.

"So, you're not one of those super annoying fangirls who just drools over the lead singer?" Toshiro jokingly asked Momo.

"No, and I'm careful about that, too! I love everybody in the band, and I love their music," Momo replied seriously. "And what about you? The bass guitarist just seems like someone boys would maybe fawn over."

Toshiro shook his head. "I thought she was too old for someone my age. Maybe people older than me do, though. I have no idea."

Unohana entered Toshiro's room at that moment with Isane. "It's time for Momo to leave. She needs to have her blood checked, and it's time for Toshiro to take his medicine," she said kindly.

Momo and Toshiro were both a little disappointed. They clicked really well with each other, and were having such a good time talking that they forgot Momo was only staying for half an hour. Time had passed very quickly.

"It was nice meeting you, Momo," Toshiro said happily.

"You, too. Dr. Ukitake planned this whole thing out, so thank you as well, Dr. Ukitake." Momo turned to smile at him.

"Don't mention it. I think you both were in need of some company," Ukitake responded lightly.

It was needless to say that Momo and Toshiro both felt a little lighter that day. Even if they hadn't seen parents or siblings yet, they had been able to meet each other. Ukitake really was a genius.

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><p><strong>AN **You guys might find out who the band is later. They're one of my favorites. ;3

Please please hit that nice looking review button. I need your feedback so I know how I'm doing. I want to try and get more reviews for this story.


	6. Ch 6: Princess Andrea

**A/N **So I'm back with another chapter! I might try to start updating more than once a week now, if I can get more of the story written. I want to finish this story because I'm going to begin writing a script for a movie I'd like to film this summer. As of right now I'm not really sure how many more chapters this story will be, but thank you to those who've stuck with me and reviewed!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, but if I did I'd make Toshiro taller for a friend of mine (who believes he'll be 6ft tall one day xD).

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><p>Life at the hospital no longer seemed as bleak and hopeless since Momo met Toshiro. She was glad that she had gotten to meet him, and glad that Ukitake had come up with the plan in the first place. She and Toshiro had a lot in common it turned out, and it was nice knowing he was just on the other side of her wall, and that they'd be able to talk to each other now.<p>

Toshiro was nice, to say the very least. There was so much Momo could say about him, but the thing that stuck out the most was how much he reminded her of her friends back at home. He was a lot like Rukia in height first of all, but also in the sense that you could tell when he cared about something or someone, even if he didn't make an attempt to show it.

Thinking about Rukia made Momo feel guilty all over again. They hadn't spoken since the day she'd left for recovery, and their conversation hadn't ended on a good note either. This had been almost two weeks ago already. It was hard for Momo to imagine she'd been at Blue Meadows for this much time.

Even with Toshiro there to make things easier for Momo, and to give her someone to talk to, accepting help from the doctors still proved to be a challenge. She'd begun to eat more in hopes of gaining enough weight to get out as soon as possible, but eating made her feel disgusting. Sometimes all Isane could get into her might be a few fruit slices or some crackers because Momo would break down and start crying. Nobody but a nurse or doctor was allowed to be in the room while she ate because eating around a bunch of people made her uncomfortable.

As for Toshiro, things had begun to take a turn for the better. While he did still have days that weren't so good as others, he felt like things were looking up for the most part. The doctors still had him on a gluten-free diet, with very limited meats and dairy, but he was able to stomach more than he had been able to upon his arrival at Blue Meadows. On good days he would be able to eat two full meals, and sometimes a small snack.

Toshiro also felt grateful for the fact that he had been able to meet Momo. His family hadn't been able to visit him since he'd arrived, but having someone else to talk to and take his mind off of things made life a little easier. He and Momo weren't really that close considering they'd only known each other for two weeks, but she was really the only friend he had at the moment.

To sum things up, the sky didn't seem so gloomy for the two any longer. There were still a few dark clouds scattered around, but it seemed like the sun was finally starting to peek through.

_"Knock, knock, knock!" _someone knocked on Momo's door one morning. The knob turned, and Unohana stepped in, looking as tranquil and serene as always. A small smile could be seen on her lips, the same smile that would have made Momo believe she was secretly evil two weeks ago.

"Good morning, Momo," Unohana said cheerily. "We need to check your weight to see if things have been going the way we've hoped."

"You want me to have gained weight," Momo finished for Unohana. She wasn't particularly thrilled about the idea, but knew that gaining weight meant freedom from this place she once called a hellhole.

"We're only talking about a few pounds. It's nothing you should get worked up over," Unohana reassured. Momo nodded, trying to be confident, but her one part of her brain told her that a few pounds gained were a few pounds over "pretty".

Unohana then pulled a wheelchair into the room that had been sitting outside the door, and motioned for Momo to sit down. Down the hall was a room with a scale, which could determine how much longer Momo had to stay at Blue Meadows. She was instructed to stand on it by Unohana.

As Momo was getting out of the wheelchair, the door to the room opened behind her. Toshiro was lead in by Isane, although he was allowed to walk. The small part of Momo's brain that still wanted to be upset about everything was slightly annoyed by this, but Momo still smiled anyways. A smile always came naturally and subconsciously when she was around him.

"Good morning, Toshiro!" she said with a smile.

"Hey, Momo. Sleep well?" Toshiro asked.

"Yeah, well, I guess as well as you can with those heart machines beeping right next to you. How about you?" Momo asked nicely.

"Same," he replied casually.

"Momo, could you please step up here and hold still?" asked Unohana, and Momo did as she was told. "You've gained approximately three pounds. You're weight is still very low, but this is a good start. This means you can have a half an hour of up time now."

Momo looked from Toshiro to Unohana and stepped down from the scale. "What does that mean?" she asked Unohana.

"You're allowed to be out of your bed for half an hour each day. Of course, this doesn't mean you can run around your room and exercise vigorously. You will be supervised," explained Unohana.

Momo wanted to throw her hands up in the air and shout "halleluiah!" Half an hour out of that stupid bed seemed like half an hour of golden time. She would probably sit in her chair with the curtains to the window opened so she could absorb the sunlight, and maybe draw a little.

Toshiro was next to step on the scale. Isane weighed him and said he'd gained a couple of pounds, as well. She also told him that he'd be able to have his up time each day, too.

"If you want, we can give you two your up time with each other. It shouldn't be a problem," Isane told them. Momo and Toshiro looked at one another and nodded in approval. "Alright, then I guess you'll be seeing each other again later today. Sound alright?"

"Yup," Momo and Toshiro answered at the same time. They smiled at each other.

Both of them were then lead back to their rooms. Today, Momo's spirits were lifted, and she ate her breakfast Isane brought willingly. She didn't even feel like having a break down afterwards.

"You just made my job a whole lot easier, Momo," Isane said jokingly as Momo munched on her breakfast.

"I feel… better today," Momo replied simply.

"Well, things get better if you give them a chance," Isane replied with a smile. She took Momo's tray of food away after Momo was done eating.

Momo agreed with what Isane said. The first few days at Blue Meadows had been pure hell, and Momo knew she'd probably been part of the cause. She'd hated everyone who worked with her, but then Ukitake came along. If it weren't for him and his creepy scheme to get her and Toshiro acquainted, Blue Meadows would still be considered the worst place on the planet to her.

After Ukitake had also given her the information about the art show, she'd had a chance to go through and read everything. It sounded like something that could be fun to go to, and preparing for it would give her a chance to get her mind off of gaining a bunch of weight. Art was how she could get away from all of her problems, just disappearing into her own world.

By this point the only thing that could make Momo happier would be if she could talk to Rukia. She desperately wanted to apologize for everything she'd said, but in person. Over the past couple of weeks she'd checked her phone a few times, but had received none from Rukia. She'd gotten a few from Kira and a few other friends, but Rukia was the one person she felt she owed the biggest apology to.

"I'm so sorry, Rukia…" Momo whispered to herself.

Ukitake knocked on Momo's door a short while after the weigh-in. He stepped into her room with light steps and his usual happy smile. "So, I hear they're giving you and Toshiro your up time together. That sounds nice," he said cheerily.

Momo grinned. "Yeah, I think it will be. Also, I thing I'm going to enter one of my drawings in that show you told me about," Momo replied enthusiastically.

"That's fantastic! You really seem excited about this!" answered Ukitake.

"I am, and I'm surprised. I'm actually excited about people being able to see what I've drawn. The problem is, I'm not sure which drawing I should enter." Momo's smile faded a little.

"You should ask Toshiro! I bet he'd love to see your pictures, too!" suggested Ukitake.

Momo shrugged. "Maybe…"

For some odd reason, Momo was still a little apprehensive about letting Toshiro see her drawings. She felt like like what he thought of them mattered more than what other people thought. If she showed him, she wanted him to like them and appreciate them. It wasn't really about the drawings themselves, but more about him.

For their first day of up time, Momo and Toshiro were told they could go outside. The weather was beautiful, and the doctors all agreed that the sunlight would be a good thing for the two of them. Neither of them had been able to get any fresh air for over two weeks, and today it was sunny and warm.

Momo brought her sketchpad and cell phone outside with her. She had sent a long message to Rukia earlier saying how sorry she was, and how badly she wanted to apologize more in person. The message hadn't been so long that it spilled everything, but it had been long enough to get some of the point across.

The message had been sent over an hour ago, but Rukia hadn't responded. Loads of explanations for this had crossed Momo's mind, some of them being negative. She wanted to believe Rukia was busy, or she'd lost her phone, anything. She didn't want to believe that maybe Rukia just didn't want to talk to her at all.

"It's a really nice day out, isn't it?" Toshiro asked Momo as he was wheeled up next to her.

"It really is. I almost forgot what fresh air was like after being inside for so long." As Momo spoke, she felt the familiar smile creep onto her face. She was going to have to give it a name, maybe the "Toshiro Smile". She smiled around all her friends, but she seemed to smile around Toshiro nearly all the time.

There was a small lot next to the hospital that was like a private park reserved for in-patients and their visitors. The grass was kept cut, and there were a few pathways that wove their way around. Trees were scattered about in different places, and benches were placed under a few of them. Momo felt the need to draw this place because it was so neat and pristine.

"Are we allowed to walk around?" Toshiro asked one of the nurses. He heard them murmur to each other before they answered him.

"We have to be able to see you, so I suggest you don't go any farther than that bench over there. We don't want you walking around too much, so we'd actually like you to sit once you're over there," the nurse explained.

Momo was pretty sure the directions mainly concerned her. She was in a worse state than Toshiro, her weight actually being lower than his own. The doctors still didn't want her walking around everywhere because they were still uptight about her not burning extra calories. She'd gained three pounds during her stay at Blue Meadows, and they wanted to keep those numbers increasing.

"What do you think? Should we go?" Toshiro asked Momo, who nodded gratefully and happily stood up.

"What was their whole deal about sitting?" Toshiro asked curiously as he and Momo made their way over to a bench.

"The doctors don't want me moving around. I'm supposed to be burning as little calories as possible per day, in order to get my weight up faster. I swear, though, if I sat around any longer my legs would just turn into Jell-o and fall apart," said Momo dramatically.

Toshiro snorted in reply. "They never gave me any of that. I'm not supposed to be moving around much, either, but I never got crap for getting out of bed."

"Yeah, well one of the nurses tried to follow me into the bathroom the first day I was here," Momo said with disgust.

At her reply, Toshiro laughed. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm dead serious! I told her I'd sooner pee in my bed before I let anyone follow me into the bathroom!" Momo threw up her hands in protest. Toshiro chuckled again and smiled at her playfully horrified face.

The two kept walking and eventually sat down on the bench under a large oak tree. The green leaves rustled faintly due to the slight breeze. Momo and Toshiro sat quietly for a few minutes just enjoying the nice day. Toshiro was the first one to speak up.

"Ukitake mentioned something about you entering an art show in downtown San Francisco. What's that about?" he asked.

"It's a show for kids our age to showcase their work. He already knew about it and printed out some information for me to read, as well as an entry form. I'm just having a hard time deciding which one I should pick," Momo explained.

"They're all that good, huh?" Toshiro teased lightly.

"Or not good enough," Momo replied accidentally. She hadn't meant to say that at all. Now Toshiro would think she was holding a pity party or something. In an attempt to cover up what she'd said she let out a small, half-hearted giggle.

Ukitake had certainly put a lot of light on the drawings when he told Toshiro about them, which made Toshiro curious. "Do you mind if I see them?" he asked politely.

Reluctantly, Momo handed him her sketchpad. She felt that hope for him to like them arise in her stomach as he began to look through the pages. His reaction became similar to Ukitake's after he'd seen a few.

"You don't think any of these are good? They're amazing; did you do some with pastel?" asked Toshiro in awe.

"Yeah, but I did most of them with colored pencils," Momo answered, feeling pleased that Toshiro liked her drawings. When he said they were amazing he seemed like he meant it, and Momo was really glad.

Toshiro continued to flip through the pages. He was gentle, so as not to accidentally tear them out and let the wind carry them away. He doubted Momo would be too pleased with that. As he kept flipping, he stopped on a particular one.

"This one," he said simply.

"This one what?" Momo replied. She didn't see what picture Toshiro was gesturing at, as she was too preoccupied with checking her phone for the umpteenth time that day.

"You should use this as your entry for the show," clarified Toshiro. He tapped Momo on the arm and pointed to the picture.

Momo's heart skipped a beat when she saw what picture Toshiro was looking at, and she frowned. It was the same picture Ukitake had been particularly fascinated with. "I don't even know why that one is still in there. It deserves to be in a trashcan," she said with a sharp edge to her tone. She made an attempt to grab the sketchpad from Toshiro's hands, but he held it out of her reach.

"Whoa, whoa, no it doesn't. Why would you say that? What don't you like about it?" Toshiro asked shockingly.

"It's just… that man there…" Momo fell silent for a moment, deciding on whether or not she should tell Toshiro about the man in the picture.

"What about him?" Toshiro questioned. He didn't want to push, but he still wanted to know what was so bad about the picture.

Momo looked down at her hands. "That's my father, Satoshi. He cheated on my mom a couple of years ago with some girl half his age. I drew that picture of him and my mom shortly before I found out…"

"Hey, it's alright. You didn't have to say anything if you didn't want to. I wasn't trying to push," reassured Toshiro. He placed his hand on her shoulder and handed her the notebook back. Momo felt her arm twitch slightly at his contact, but was pretty sure it went unnoticed.

"No, it's fine, really. I just forget that I have that in there a lot," Momo replied in a lighter tone.

In the sketch, Satoshi and Ami were curled up on a hammock together. Satoshi had one arm around her, while the hand on his other arm held onto the book he was reading. Ami was sleeping, and she had a peaceful look on her face. Sunlight shined down on the two of them through the two trees the hammock was hung between.

"I drew that from inside when I was looking out of our living room window. Something like that was something I'd only ever seen in movies, and I never wanted to forget. My mom hadn't ever looked so happy or calm." A sharp pain arose in Momo's heart. "But my dad was a liar."

Not really knowing the best thing to say, Toshiro stayed quiet. He wanted her to know he'd been listening, that he cared, and that he was someone to lean on just in case, so he gently took her hand in his. He wasn't trying to make a move, but he wanted Momo to know that he was her friend.

Momo closed her eyes and smiled a little. She took his silent message the right way, and let herself relax. Her nervous heart slowed down as she let out a content sigh. With everything that had been going on, it felt nice to have somebody around who cared.

"Momo, look." Toshiro pointed to a girl who looked to be about eight or nine playing with her parents. It reminded Momo of herself when she was younger.

The girl had on a white t-shirt, a light pink jacket, and jeans. A smile was plastered onto her face as she ran around with her mother and father. The little girl was adorable, but there was one thing that stood out about her the most: she had no hair.

"She must be a cancer patient here," suggested Toshiro. This reminded Momo that there were other kids in her unit with real problems, not eating disorders.

Momo thought for a moment before she took out some of her pencils and opened her sketchpad to a clean page. After a minute of deciding what to draw, she began to draw the little girl in a meadow with trees and flowers all around her. She drew her in a nice gown, with a crown atop of her head, which she left bald.

In a matter of about ten minutes she had a decent pencil sketch drawn. Momo held the notebook out in front of her to admire her work. Then, she gently tore the page out of the sketchpad and stood up.

"What are you doing?" asked Toshiro curiously. The doctors also seemed to be on higher alert.

"I want to give it to her," Momo answered simply.

Toshiro watched as Momo made her way over to the family. The parents gave her a friendly "hello" and beckoned for their daughter to come over and introduce herself. Momo knelt in front of her.

"Do you like princesses?" she asked the child.

"Yes! I've always wanted to be one!" the girl exclaimed in excitement.

"Well, now you are." Momo held out the picture for the girl to see, whose face lit up in amazement.

"That's beautiful!" the mother exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. Her husband smiled in agreement.

"Mommy, Daddy, that's me!" the girl shouted happily.

Momo giggled. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Andrea!" answered the girl joyfully.

With a pencil Momo had brought over with her, she wrote _"Princess Andrea" _across the top of the page in neat cursive. "Well, Princess Andrea, I think you should have this." She handed Andrea the drawing, who took it in her hands with the happiest smile Momo had ever seen on a child.

"Thank you so much!" Andrea said as she hugged Momo. Both of Andrea's parents were smiling, as well. The mother had one hand over her heart, and the father had his arm placed around her.

"Thank you so much, dear. We've haven't seen her smile like this in a very long time," the mother admitted.

"It was no big deal at all," Momo answered casually. "I'm glad it made her happy."

Toshiro felt himself smiling at the family's reaction to receiving the drawing. He even chuckled a little when the girl hugged Momo. The scene in front of him was touching, and the family was feeling genuine happiness. As he craned his head to look at the doctors he found them smiling and pointing.

Momo eventually said goodbye to Andrea and the parents. She casually made her way back to a grinning Toshiro (which she found a little cute).

"Told you you're drawings were good," Toshiro said matter-of-factly. "We should probably head back to the doctors."

Momo nodded, and the two of them made their way over to where the nurses had been standing the whole time. The wheelchairs (which Momo was beginning to hate) were still ready for them both.

"That seemed long for half an hour," Momo noted, and Toshiro nodded in agreement.

"We let you stay out a little longer than planned. All of us were enjoying the nice weather, and we figured you two could use the fresh air," answered a nurse.

Toshiro and Momo were pushed back to their rooms after that. After saying their goodbyes, they were separated for the remainder of the day. The "Toshiro Smile" faded from Momo's lips as the door to her room closed behind her.

After taking some pills and eating an afternoon snack, she decided to look through her drawings. Many of them she had forgotten about, and she allowed herself to smile at the old memories. At the end of the day she decided her mom wasn't so terrible. But her dad still was.

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><p><strong>AN **Please please please review as usual! And big thanks to **icyangel27**, who's reviewed every chapter so far! And to everyone else: I'm going to be putting a big thanks at the end of the story, so don't think I've forgotten about you :)


	7. Chapter 7: News

Ok, so I know you aren't really supposed to use to post messages, but I have some news for all my Healing Eachother followers. I am actually discontinuing the story. When I first started writing it I really had no plan for where it was going to go, and I didn't even take the time to sit down and plan the entire thing out. I had a lot written, but I kind of ran out of ideas. I decided that the story wasn't going to go anywhere, and it was probably best to just discontinue the entire thing since it's been over a year since I last updated it.

But for those of you who follow me, I'm not leaving FanFiction entirely! I'm actually going to start the planning for a new HitsuHina story that I might use later to develop my own characters and maybe even turn it into a script for a short film. If you want to check that out, I posted a little teaser oneshot called The Key and the Globe. I talk a little more about the story there. I'm thinking I might take a steampunk, clockwork, fantasy approach to the story. Fun fun, am I right?

My goal for this story is to do research on the time period I'm looking into, plan the entire plot out, and have everything written before I actually post. It's probably going to be a while before I post the first chapter, but don't worry, I'll be working my hardest. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or cool articles things you'd like me to take a look at, PM me. I'd be happy to check everything out and give you credit for your ideas, too.

Thanks guisee :)

-100EMERALD


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